Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rogue leans against the wall of Fairy Tail’s guild.

“I bet you guys are glad to be back here,” Sting comments.

“Yeah, we are,” Lucy says with a small smile.

“We’re also glad that you guys came to visit, but why are you here?”

“We came to pay respects, and just let you know that Sabertooth is turning over a new leaf. We’re gonna make our guild one of the best and gentlest ones around.”

“Who’s taking over the guild? I doubt Minerva would be up for your peace and love attitude,” Natsu replies.

“No, she’s not. Well, that’s ok anyway. We haven’t picked another guild master, but we’ll figure it out. We’d love to stay and chat, but Rogue and I have a job that we have to get to.”

Rogue nods, pushing himself off of the wall.

“Well, it was good seeing you guys. Best of luck with your job,” Erza says, giving them a small smile.

Sting laughs. “As if we’ll need it. Come on, Rogue.”

Rogue follows him out, pulling his cloak around himself.

“Do you always need to be so cocky?” he asks quietly.

“Yeah, it’s a mindset.”

“He wouldn’t be so cocky if you guys weren’t the best,” Lector says.

“Fro thinks so also.”

Rogue reaches down to pat Frosch’s head without a word. They continue on their trip to their job. It’s located outside of town in the middle of nowhere. Supposedly there’s a group of people living out there who need help. The kind of help wasn’t specific, but it was specified that the wizards have to be powerful to complete the task.

“Why did we take this job?” Rogue asks as they’re walking.

“I was curious. There was so little information, and you know that I always want to know what’s going on. I need to know.”

“You always were all up in other people’s business.”

Sting’s mouth drops open in fake shock.

“How rude. I am not. I have a healthy interest in things that I don’t know. Curiosity never killed anyone.”

“Anyone other than the cat at least.”

Sting doesn’t respond, folding his arms and pouting instead. Rogue ignores him, keeping his eyes focused ahead. He scans the desolate terrain ahead.

“How long are we going to have to walk?”

“Well, I don’t know, but I figured this was better than taking a vehicle.”

“You’re right,” he immediately agrees.

They end up having to walk for almost four hours after leaving town before they come to the coordinates that the client left for them. There’s a singular shack with no people in sight.

“Are you sure that this is right?” Sting asks.

“You have the coordinates,” Rogue reminds him.

“Oh right, just let me check one more time.”

He pauses to pull out the piece of paper with the request on it.

“Yeah, this is the right place. Let’s go knock on the door.”

He walks up and knocks firmly on the door. When no one answers, he reaches for the knob. Rogue pushes him out of the way as something comes flying through the doorway. They both land a few feet away, but the small bomb that just flew out of the shack starts letting out smoke. It’s not as effective outside, but they’re still close enough that the smoke easily reaches them. They both pass out quickly. Rogue wakes up slowly, noting a small headache behind his eyes.

“Ugh,” he mumbles, sitting up.

He looks around, noticing how small the area he’s in is. It looks like a narrow black hallway. It doesn’t look like it’s painted black, the walls just look like voids. He reaches out and touches one just to make sure that it’s really there. He lets out a breath, looking around again. His eyes lock onto someone yellow around the corner.

“Sting!” he says, rushing over to it.

Sting is face down, completely still. Rogue turns him over and shakes him.

“Wake up, you dummy.”

Sting groans, weakly trying to push Rogue’s hands away. Rogue turns his head to the right and then the left. There’s no blood in his hair, and the motion seems to wake him up pretty efficiently.

“Stop that. What are you doing?”

He looks around, a frown immediately forming on his face.

“Where are we?”

“Do you not remember the mission? The one that was so interesting that we had to go?”

“Oh… where’s Lector?!” he demands, pushing Rogue over in his attempt to look around for Lector.

“He’s not here. I haven’t found Frosch either, and you know neither of them are quiet cats.”

“True, but where could they be?”

“I don’t know, but we have to find them. We have to get out of here, and head back to the shack.”

“Yeah!”

Sting jumps to his feet with a determined look on his face.

“Wait, how do we do that?”

Rogue sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I’m not sure yet. I don’t even know where we are. It looks like the walls are made of some kind of magic, or are coated in some kind of magic. Do you see the color?”

Sting squints at the wall before nodding.

“Yeah, that does look weird. I wonder if it’s limited to what it looks like.”

He walks over to the wall before pressing his hand against it. He presses his body weight against it, but it doesn’t budge.

“I’m gonna use my magic on it.”

Rogue nods, taking a step closer in case he needs to intervene. Sting tries to blast the wall apart, but nothing happens.

“Why aren’t you using your magic?” Rogue asks, folding his arms.

“It’s not working. I can’t use my magic at all.”

Rogue frowns, thinking.

“That’s weird. Let me try.”

After a minute, he sighs.

“Mine isn’t working either. I can still feel the magic through my veins, but I can’t activate it. I can’t give it a physical form.”

Sting nods.

“I didn’t have any indication that I wouldn’t be able to use my magic either.”

“Well, I guess we’re following the hallway.”

“That doesn’t sound like the wisest idea.”

“It’s not, but we don’t have any other choices. The only other way is the way that I just came from, and that’s a dead end. We have to get out of here so we can find Frosch and Lector.”

“Alright, let’s go. Just make sure that you keep your guard up.”

Rogue nods, leading the way down the hall. After a while the hallway splits off to the right and left.

“Let’s head left.”

They head to the left, but it leads to a dead end.

“Do you think this is a maze of some sort?” Sting asks, leaning against the wall.

“Yeah, probably. Do you hear that?” Rogue asks, cocking his head to the side.

There’s a sound like gear grinding against each other, and then the wall juts out to cut off the way they just came from. Rogue and Sting both jump, taken by surprise. Small slits start opening the walls, and circular blades extend out. They begin spinning and moving back into the wall and back out. Rogue has to jump out of the way to avoid being split in half.

“What the-!” he exclaims, pressing himself against the opposite wall.

Sting is doing the same thing, but the blades are coming closer and closer to the wall with each time they come out. Rogue watches them for a minute, studying the pattern of which blade comes out when. He takes a few steps to the right and then walks forward.

“What are you doing?!” Sting demands, concern and fear lacing his tone.

“Shut up, Sting. I need to focus.”

He reaches the other wall, and grabs the piece connecting one of the blades to the wall right as it’s fully extended. He rips the blade out of the wall, immediately dropping it onto the floor. The blade in front of him starts to extend before he can step into the safe space, creating a cut along his hip as he moves away from it.

“Crap,” he hisses, wincing.

His face is contorted in pain as he places a hand over the cut. It’s pretty deep, blood gushing out. He can feel his face growing hot, and he can see his vision swimming. He blinks and Sting is next to him, shaking his shoulders. At some point, he sank to his knees on the ground.

“Take your cloak off. I’m gonna use it to wrap that up.”

He snaps in Rogue’s face, who turns to look at him.

“There was some kind of poison on the blade. I’m almost certain,” he whispers, squeezing his eyes shut.

“That’s not good. Just hang on, you’ll be fine.”

He takes Rogue’s cloak off of his shoulders, and starts ripping it into strips.

“I’m gonna put it over your clothes. It’ll be easier, but it does have to be pretty tight. So, just take a deep breath.”

Rogue nods, trying to breathe calmly and evenly. Sting wraps the first piece around his waist, tying it tightly. Rogue feels the fire in his vein light up. His vision swims, and the only thing he can do is barely keep himself upright.

“Are you alright?” Sting asks, already holding the second piece of cloth.

I’m anything but fine. My veins are on fire. Come on, he has to do this. It won’t hurt you to tell him you’re fine. Pretend you don’t feel anything.

“I’m fine, keep going.”

He grits his teeth as Sting ties a few more pieces over the wound until he’s sure that it’s taken care of enough.

“Alright, can you stand?”

He nods, pulling himself to his feet. All of the blades are on the floor.

“I worked my way out from where you created an opening. The wall reopened as soon as the blades were all detached. Let’s try not to go the wrong way again, ok?”

He nods, his eyes a little heavy.

I’m able to stand without the fire coming back, so I’m fine. I’m fine.

He takes a few steps forward before turning back to Sting. Sting seems to get the idea, because he gets closer. Rogue leans against him, silently checking him over for cuts. All of his clothes seem to be intact, and there’s no blood anywhere. He lets out a breath, much more at ease now that he knows that the fire isn’t in Sting’s veins.

I have to stay quiet and keep moving. We have to find Lector and Frosch.

He lets Sting lead the way though since his sense of direction is thrown off. That works for a while, three turns in fact. Then they hit another dead end. Sting groans.

“Alright, stay back here. The wall back there has already closed, but we’re not close enough for the trap to activate. I’ll be back as soon as I beat the trap. Just stay put.”

He leads Rogue down the wall into a sitting position. He walks forward and the wall shuts in between them. The next thing Rogue knows, the floor is alight with lightning. He screams, his vision fading out quickly. Everything is blurry and it sounds like he’s underwater when he wakes up. Sting is kneeling over him with a concerned and panicked look on his face.

“Rogue, please wake up. Can you talk? Oh my gosh.”

He sounds near hyperventilating.

“Shh,” he mumbles, trying to pull his hands up to cover his ears.

Sting grows silent immediately.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.

“I’m fine,” Rogue mumbles, trying to sit up.

All of his muscles are tense and sore, but he manages.

“You should stay laying down.”

“How are we going to get out of here if I do that?” he asks, speaking slowly and clearly.

“I can carry you.”

“We both know you can’t. For all we know, we still have a long way until we get out of here. Are you ok though?”

“Yeah, the trap was stupid, but the corridor out here was being shocked the whole time. I don’t know why, but maybe they didn’t want only one of us to go in.”

“Help me up. We need to get moving.”

He offers Sting his hand, which he takes. Sting pulls him to his feet, keeping a hold of his hand until his arm is situated around Sting’s shoulders.

We need to keep moving. We have to get through this for Fro and Lector. It’s fine, I’m fine, I’m fine.

Chapter Text

Sting keeps a tight hold on Rogue as they walk. Rogue’s eyes are closed, but he’s still supporting some of his own weight, so Sting doesn’t say anything. It’s only two more turns before the hallway opens up into a big area. Sting looks around, his frown deepening. Gajeel and Natsu are arguing in the corner with Lucy begging them to stop. However, everything gets quiet when Natsu and Gajeel notice Rogue and Sting. 

“Are you guys ok?” Natsu asks as they both run over.

Gajeel takes Rogue from Sting, holding him like a princess. 

“He was poisoned by one of the traps.” 

Gajeel nods, setting him down near the wall. He doesn’t respond beyond moaning quietly. Gajeel checks his temperature, pulse, and breathing. 

“Ok, his pulse is good, but his breathing is thin and he has a fever.” 

“Do you think he’ll be alright?” Sting asks, breathlessly. 

“The guild was attacked. A speaker told us that Natsu and I were participating as a team. We were probably paired up due to vicinity. If that’s actually the case, he’ll be fine. Wendy was with Erza. They were discussing swords, or something of that nature. If Erza is with her, it shouldn’t be too long before they show up,” Gajeel says, his eyes never leaving Rogue. 

“So your team consisted of three people?” Sting asks, glancing at Lucy. 

“Nah, Lucy is on a team with Levy. She’s in the corner trying to puzzle out how all of this could have happened,” Gajeel says, sticking a thumb towards Levy, who’s crouched down in the corner. 

She’s mumbling furiously to herself, completely unaware of everything around her. Sting nods, watching her for a moment before turning back towards Rogue. Wendy and Erza draw his attention as they come in from one of the many hallways reaching out beyond the room. 

“Hey, are you guys ok?” Lucy asks, jogging over to them. 

“We’re fine,” Erza replies as she leads Wendy over. 

“Can you heal Ryos? He was poisoned by the thing that cut his hip,” Gajeel explains.

Wendy nods, jogging over. She crouches down next to him, putting a hand on his forehead. A little bit of color returns to his cheeks, and he cracks his eyes open a few moments later. 

“Are you ok?” Sting asks, kneeling down in front of Rogue. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. What happened?” 

“You got hurt, but Wendy healed you,” Gajeel says, sitting back on his heels. 

Rogue looks between Gajeel and Sting a few times before looking around the room. 

“Wait, are all of you participating too?” 

“Yeah, and they took Happy! We have to get him back,” Natsu says, jumping up and down. 

“Oh, yeah, Natsu and I were fighting about that,” Gajeel mutters. 

“They took Lector and Frosche too,” Rogue says, standing up. 

He turns to Wendy. 

“Thanks.” 

“Of course, it’s no problem.” 

He gives her a small smile before turning back to the others. 

“I was arguing that just because we don’t know where Lily and Happy are doesn’t mean that they took them. I’m as hot headed as the next guy, but that’s a big jump. I think we should focus on getting out of here rather than trying to figure out where they are. They might even be back at the guild.” 

“We can’t wait that long to look for them!” Natsu exclaims. 

“Calm yer self. I’m not saying we should. I think that after we find a way out, we should beat the crap out of the people who put us in here. Then we can get them to tell us what they did with our cats.” 

Lucy clears her throat, but nobody even spares her a glance. 

“I think that you’re full of crap,” Natsu says, folding his arms. 

Lucy glares at them as Erza makes a little ahem noise. They both turn to look at her, both looking a little sheepish. 

“Stop arguing. We’re going to find the cats, and get out of here.” 

A distant noise has Sting and Rogue both turning to the nearest entrance to them. 

“Do you hear that too?” Gajeel asks, smirking. 

“Yeah, what is it though? It sounds like arguing.” 

“That’s Juvia and Gray,” Gajeel replies, putting a hand on his hip. 

It’s not long before they both walk in. Juvia’s hair is disheveled, and Gray looks like he put the tips of his fingers into a meat grinder. Blood drips onto the floor as they continue to bicker. 

“Gray-sama should let me look at it.” 

“No, last time you looked at it, you passed out.” 

Lucy runs over, almost knocking Natsu over in the process. 

“Gray!” 

Gray’s head snaps up. 

“Lucy, hey. What’re Rogue and Sting doing here?” he asks, cocking his head to the side. 

“They were grabbed just like us. That’s not important. What happened to your hand? It looks awful.” 

“Yeah, Juvia almost got herself turned into mincemeat.” 

“Juvia already said that she was sorry!” 

“Well, sorry wouldn’t help if you were dead,” he mutters, and Juvia’s face lights up. 

“I knew that Gray-sama cared about Juvia.” 

“You’ve literally been dating for at least six months,” Gajeel says. 

Juvia ignores him, grinning at Gray like she just won the lottery. 

“Well, at least someone’s happy,” Lucy mutters. 

Wendy walks over. 

“Ok, I don’t think I can completely heal this right now. However, I can stop the bleeding. Then we can clean it really well and wrap it up after we get back to the guild.” 

“Ok, thank you, Wendy.” 

“Well, this accounts for most of the people in the guild. That only leaves the Master,” Gajeel points out as he looks around the room. 

“Good observation,” a voice says, echoing around the room. “You only have one more task before you can leave this place. You must complete a puzzle. This is now an escape room.” 

“Where’s Happy?” Natsu demands. 

“Well, your cats are all at your guild with your guild master, even the Sabertooth cats.” Just like that, the voice is gone. 

“Great, we’re stuck in an escape room with some of the dumbest members of the guild,” Gray mutters, causing Natsu to spin around to face him. 

“You better not be talking about me like that!” 

“Whatever.” 

Before it can turn into an all out brawl between Gray and Natsu, Gajeel turns his hand to iron before punching the ceiling. The room shakes as he continues to attack the ceiling. 

“What are you doing?” Levy cries, tossing herself into his arms. 

He catches her with a confused look. 

“He said that it’s an escape room,” he replies like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. 

“What does that have to do with you bringing the whole place down on our heads?” she demands. 

“I’m not. I was taught that when in prison, break the prison. I’m going for the ceiling because it’s more likely to lead out rather than further in. I can break it without hurting anyone. Aren’t escape rooms like prisons that you pay to get into?” 

It takes a moment before Levy starts laughing. 

“I forget how clueless you are sometimes.” 

“Can I break the ceiling now?” he asks. 

“Well, I think that he wanted us to find clues that’ll help us get out. So, in that case, absolutely. As long as it’s safe.”

“Completely, don’t worry.” 

She smiles at him as she takes a step back. He only has to hit the ceiling one more time for it to come crashing down around him. Big pieces of debris fall around them, but it’s in big enough pieces that it’s easy not to get hit. 

“Alright, let’s go.” 

It’s a bit of a task to get everyone through the hole especially since Gajeel and Natsu aren’t allowed to help since their version of helping is throwing people through the hole. However, the hole does lead out of the strange building. 

“How did you know that was going to work?” Natsu asks suspiciously. 

“He probably used some kind of magic to change the walls in the hallways, but the ones in the room looked normal,” Gajeel replies with an indifferent shrug. 

“We should split up. Some of us will stay here to hunt down the man responsible for this, and the rest of you should head back to the guild. Rogue, Sting, Gray, and Wendy, you’ll all be part of the group going back to the guild,” Erza says sternly. 

Gray puts his hands up in surrender. 

“Don’t gotta tell me twice.” 

“That’s a first,” she mutters. 

He pouts, sticking his bottom lip out. Juvia swoons, causing Gajeel to roll his eyes. The man wasn’t lying. It takes them a while to figure out where they were, but when they do get back to the guild, all of the cats are there. It isn’t even long before the other group shows up too. 

“We dealt with it,” Erza says to Makarov. 

“Happy!” Natsu yells, running over to Happy. 

Happy meets him halfway, slamming into him. Gajeel picks Lily up. 

“Aw, did you miss me?” he asks, snuggling against Lily. 

Levy clears her throat with an eyebrow raised. He opens his other arm up, letting her snuggle against his side. Sting turns to Rogue. 

“Well, do you wanna stick around?” 

“No. Let’s go home instead.” 

“Sounds good to me.”